Beethoven sonata for concerto grounding?

[burnttoast]

I told my teacher I wanted to do a concerto with him. He suggested Beethoven and that I should get some grounding in the sonatas before that. I want to know what are the best sonatas for preparing for the concertos (technical and musical aspects, style, etc.). Would help a lot if I could get a sonata(s) for preparing for each concerto instead of the concertos as a whole. Thanks!

[philb]

I would say pick one around the same time period that's somewhat similar in difficulty. I.E. If you do 1, maybe play something around Op. 2, Op. 10, Op. 22 etc. I don't think there is really one sonata that would get you prepared to play any concerto (though Op. 2 No. 3 is somewhat like a concerto, the first movement even has a cadenza), but sticking to the same period should help you get a grasp on the writing style.

Cheers

[49410enrique]

agreed w above, heck you wouldn't even have to stick w just beethoven, that is period and scope and total scale are more important so you could (and prolly should) look to and consider the hummel sonatas too. heck i'd also say you might discuss and consider a hummel piano concerto too (they are splendid!!).

(tfrom the video description ...)
just a suggestions, you can't go wrong w beethoven but who know one of these might jump out at you too

Uploaded by bartje11 on Mar 15, 2011


Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel (November 14, 1778 - October 17, 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 89 (Vienna in 1819)

1. Allegro moderato (beginning)

Stephen Hough, piano and the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Bryden Thomson


Unlike his earlier piano concerti, which closely followed the model of Mozart's, the B minor concerto along with the slightly earlier Concerto no. 2 is written in a proto-Romantic style that anticipates the later the stylistic developments of composers such as Frédéric Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn.

While in Germany, Hummel published A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (1828), which sold thousands of copies within days of its publication and brought about a new style of fingering and of playing ornaments. Later 19th century pianistic technique was influenced by Hummel, through his instruction of Carl Czerny who later taught Franz Liszt. Czerny had first studied with Beethoven, but upon hearing Hummel one evening, decided to give up Beethoven for Hummel.

Hummel's influence can also be seen in the early works of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, and the shadow of Hummel's Piano Concerto in B minor as well as his Piano Concerto in A minor can be particularly perceived in Chopin's concertos. This is unsurprising, considering that Chopin must have heard Hummel on one of the latter's concert tours to Poland and Russia, and that Chopin kept Hummel's piano concertos in his active repertoire. Harold C. Schonberg, in The Great Pianists, writes "the openings of the Hummel A minor and Chopin E minor concertos are too close to be coincidental". In relation to Chopin's Preludes, Op. 28, Schonberg says: "It also is hard to escape the notion that Chopin was very familiar with Hummel's now-forgotten Op. 67, composed in 1815 - a set of twenty-four preludes in all major and minor keys, starting with C major".

Robert Schumann also practiced Hummel (especially the Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 81). He later applied to be a pupil to Hummel. Liszt would have liked to study with Hummel, but Liszt's father Adam refused to pay the high tuition fee Hummel was used to charging (thus Liszt ended up studying with Czerny). Czerny, Friedrich Silcher, Ferdinand Hiller, Sigismond Thalberg, Felix Mendelssohn and Adolf von Henselt were among Hummel's most prominent students.

Editor:Friedrich August Roitzsch (1805--1889)

Publisher Info.:Klavier-Concerte, Opp.85 und 89
Leipzig: C.F. Peters, n.d.(ca.1882). Plate 6656.